John A. Gallagher

John Gallagher is a New York City-based filmmaker, a fixture on the New York scene for nearly 30 years as a director, writer, producer, author, historian and educator, with a wide range of international filmmaking resources and relationships, and a highly regarded, encyclopedic knowledge of films and filmmaking. His track record is especially strong in discovering and mentoring new talent, both in front of and behind the camera. Among the actors John has worked with in debut or significant early roles are John Leguizamo, Amanda Peet, Zach Braff, Michael Imperioli, Gretchen Mol, Matthew Lillard, Vincent Pastore, Steve Stanulis, Heather Matarazzo, and Denis Leary. Eight features and eighteen shorts have been produced under his 305 Media Group banner, all playing international film festivals, many directed by his young proteges. John's last three features have all received distribution from Sony companies including the feature comedy-drama The Networker (q. v.), starring Steve Stanulis, William Forsythe, Sean Young, Deborah Twiss, Alycia Reiner, Jeremy Luke, Natalie Knepp, Joe D'Onofrio, Brian Kelly, Samantha Scaffidi and Stephen Baldwin. He is the Executive Producer of the feature romantic comedy Enchantments (q. v.), directed by and starring Kelsey O'Brien (Best Feature at the Ridgewood Guild Film Festival), and is a writer-producer on the romantic comedy Sam, directed by Nick Brooks, starring Natalie Knepp, Sean Kleier, Stacy Keach, Morgan Fairchild, Joe D'Onofrio, Steve Stanulis, James McCaffrey, Bryan Batt, Brian Kelly and Sarah Scott, and executive produced by comedy legend Mel Brooks. John wrote and directed the critically acclaimed feature romantic fable Blue Moon (q.v.), released theatrically through Castle Hill, starring screen legends Ben Gazzara and Rita Moreno, with Alanna Ubach, Heather Matarazzo, Vincent Pastore, Burt Young, and Zach Braff. The movie won Best American Feature at the Avignon/New York Film Festival, and Best Fantasy Film at Worldfest Houston. John also directed and co-wrote the popular cult comedy The Deli (q. v.) (Castle Hill), with a cast including Mike Starr, Matt Keeslar, Gretchen Mol, Ice T, Heather Matarazzo, Brian Vincent, Judith Malina, Debi Mazar, Michael Imperioli, Iman, David Johansen, Burt Young, Chris Noth, Heavy D, Frank Vincent, Vincent Pastore and Tony Sirico. The Deli won the Spirit of Independents Award at the Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival, and was cited for Excellence in Filmmaking by the National Board of Review. The Deli is available in a Special Edition DVD from Warner/Ryko, and airs frequently on national TV. John was honored at the 2012 Soho International Film Festival with a 15th anniversary of The Deli, and at the 2017 Long Island International Film Expo with a 20th anniversary celebration of the film. John produced Gabriele Altobelli's Uuncomfortable Silence (q. v.), featuring Brian Kelly, Deborah Twiss and Samantha Scaffidi, which had its World Premiere as part of John's tribute to the late great legend Ben Gazzara at the Soho International Film Festival at Sunshine Cinemas in New York in April 2013. Uncomfortable Silence was also invited to the Metrage Section of the Cannes Film Festival, the Paris International Film Festival, and the Madrid Film Festival. John was Consulting Producer, Casting Director and actor on Altobelli's feature debut American Fango, winner of eight Best Feature film fest awards. As an educator, John has been on the faculty of One on One NYC, the top actors' networking facility in Manhattan, for fifteen years, teaching acting for the camera; and The School of Visual Arts teaching the Advanced Directing Workshop. He taught film acting at The Neighborhood Playhouse for five years and has taught and lectured extensively at schools, seminars and international film festivals on screen writing, filmmaking, film acting, improvisation and film history, including The Museum of Modern Art, Film Forum, The Learning Annex, Actors' Alliance, Writers Book Camp, Shetler Studios and Susan Batson Studios. John wrote and directed the acclaimed five-minute short I Love You (q.v.) (featuring 75 actors), which premiered at the Internationales Filmfest Oldenburg in Germany, and directed Expatriate (q. v.), starring Christina Gooding, awarded Best Film at the Atlantic City Short Film Festival (where he was also honored with a retrospective of his short works). John also directed the New York segments of The Aristofrogs (q. v.), a trailer for Internationales Filmfest Oldenburg, featuring Stacy Keach, which screened in German cinemas, and the short comedy Act, Naturally (q. v.). John wrote and directed the comedy short Beautiful (q. v.) starring Lauren Schacher, which world premiered at Filmfest Oldenburg, and And the Winner Is ... (q. v.) starring Christina Broccolini, named Best Short at the Chashama Film Festival with Best Actress Awards at Chashama and Picturestart Film Festival, and was an official selection of Filmfest Oldenburg and the Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival. His short We Remember has played 33 international film festivals, and won John four Best Director awards. John served as a producer on the feature films The Insurgents (q. v.), starring John Shea, Michael Moseley, Juliette Marquis, Henry Simmons and Mary Stuart Masterson, which won the German Independence Award at Filmfest Oldenburg, Best Film at the Long Island International Film Expo, Best Screenplay at the Palm Beach Film Festival, an official selection at the Montreal Film Festival, the Edmonton Film Festival, and the HD Festival in Seoul, Sydney and London, with theatrical release from Allumination/ Slamdance; and Mother's Day Massacre (q. v.), available on Itunes, featuring Heidi Kristoffer and the stars of three Sundance award-winning films. He is also executive producer on Marianne Hettinger's feature Mango Tango (q. v.), filmed in New York and Germany, winner of the Jury Prize at the 2009 Ventura Film Festival, and co-exec producer on Sylvia Caminer's Tanzania: A Journey Within (q. v.), filmed in Africa, winner of many awards including Best Film and Best Documentary at the Soho International Film Festival. John produced and directed the improvisational romantic comedy Cupidity (q. v.), which won the prize for Audience Award: Best Feature Film, as well as Best Actress (Michele Coniglio) and Best Supporting Actor (Jared Miller), at the New York Independent Film Festival. Cupidity was awarded Best Actor (James Gilmartin) at the Queens Film Festival, and was an official selection of Internationales Filmfest Oldenburg. Other features as writer-director include the comedy Men Lie (q. v.), winner of numerous international awards, selected for two dozen film festivals, including official U.S. selection of the prestigious Karlovy Vary Film Festival, with Frank Vincent, Aida Turturro, Catherine Scorsese, Michael Imperioli, and Nicholas Turturro; and the action picture Street Hunter (q. v.) (Columbia/Tri-Star), executive produced by Menahem Golan, with Steve James, John Leguizamo, Reb Brown, Frank Vincent, Richie Havens and Vincent Pastore. John's short films as writer-director include Penance (Frank Vincent, Heather Matarazzo); Vinny D (Frank Vincent, Michael Imperioli, Tony Sirico); Other Men's Wives (Denis Leary); and Kurt Vonnegut's Long Walk to Forever (q. v.) (Denis Leary). John was an Executive Producer on the feature film drama Animal Room (q. v.) (Smart Egg), Amanda Peet's first feature, starring Matthew Lillard, Neil Patrick Harris and Catherine Hicks; and the feature comedy High Times' POtluck (q. v.) (Allumination), starring Jason Isaacs, Dan Lauria, Sylvia Miles, and Frank Gorshin. John was also heavily involved in publicity and promotion for Evil Dead (q. v.) (as well as post-production) and Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn (q. v.), two classic horror movies directed by and starring his former roommates/horror icons Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell. In the New York theatre, John directed the plays "East of Evil," starring Frank Vincent, Tony Sirico and Vincent Pastore; "Punk City," starring Ronald Maccone; and "Unspeakable Ways," starring Tony Sirico, all produced at the West Bank Theatre in Manhattan; and "Screenwriters Night" and "Screenwriters Night II" at the SVA Theatre. He directed "Five Women Wearing the Same Dress" by Alan Ball (True Blood, Six Feet Under, American Beauty) at the Duo Theatre. John is the author of Film Directors on Directing (a collection of his interviews with such filmmakers as Francois Truffaut, Dennis Hopper, Ted Kotcheff, Alan Parker, and Wim Wenders) and the upcoming Nothing Sacred: The Cinema of William Wellman, and Hollywood's Forgotten Master: The Life and Times of Tay Garnett, the definitive books on the legendary directors. He also co-authored the book Gregory LaCava, commissioned by the Filmoteca Espanol and the San Sebastian Film Festival for a retrospective on the veteran Hollywood filmmaker; the foreword to the book featured John's interview with Katharine Hepburn. His interview with Peter Bogdanovich appears in the book Peter Bogdanovich: Interviews. His articles on films and filmmaking have appeared in many magazines, including Rolling Stone, American Cinematographer, Moviemaker, Films in Review, and Millimeter. He has written dozens of articles on the horror genre for Fangoria, Cinemacabre and Videoscope. John has appeared on-screen in the feature documentaries, Wild Bill: Hollywood Maverick (q. v.), A Constant Forge (q. v.), the definitive documentary on John Cassavetes, The True Adventures of Raoul Walsh, Katz's: That's All (q.v.), and The Legend of the Foreign Legion. He contributed the DVD audio commentary for William Wellman's Heroes for Sale on Warner Bros. Home Video's Forbidden Hollywood Vol. 3. He is also the New York programmer for Internationales Filmfest Oldenburg, the top indie fest in Europe.